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HCL Picks Up Where IBM Left Off, Signals India’s Ambitions in Software

HCL and IBM just traded assets worth $1.8 billion leaving HCL with a number of powerful software products across the areas of security, marketing and commerce. IBM agreed to sell its software products, including AppScan, BigFix, Commerce, Connections, Digital Experience, Notes Domino and Unica to the Indian technology behemoth in December of 2018.

Now that the deal is complete, HCL can begin executing on its plan to expand on each of these products through further innovation and a broader roll out across enterprise customers.

"We are excited for the next phase of the HCL Software Business Unit and are confident that these products will see good growth trajectory backed by our commitment to invest in product innovation coupled with our strong client focus and agile product development," president and CEO of HCL Technologies C Vijayakumar said.

For IBM, the transaction helps fulfill its desire to move towards a more concentrated focus on multi-cloud and hybrid cloud management, as evidenced by its acquisition of Red Hat for $34 billion.

While U.S. software companies have tended to be in the spotlight on the global business stage, India has been making great strides in growing IT and software empires. HCL was founded in 1976 in Uttar Pradesh, India and today is a publicly traded multinational conglomerate. It’s most recently reported annual revenue totals nearly $9 billion yielding net income of $1.4 billion. The company employs over 137,000 professionals across 44 countries including the U.S., France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

HCL’s President and CEO is C Vijaykumar who joined the company in 1994. Over the years, he undertook a variety of key responsibilities across sales, technology, delivery and operations. In July of 2016, he was appointed HCL’s Chief Operating Officer in charge of leading business operations globally. Interestingly, he is currently based out of New York City and Cary, North Carolina.

Under his leadership, there’s no shortage of ambition to acquire software assets and partner with some of the largest corporations across the globe. HCL recently announced its digital partnerships with Cricket Australia as well as Volvo and Manchester United.